Some are puzzled, angry or indignant at the lack of progress. Insurance money has begun flowing but direct aid to homeowners is not expected before the fall, and views of government's leadership vary sharply among residents.
Thailand-based relief worker Tom Kerr recalled tsunami devastation in Aceh, Indonesia, when he saw the Ninth Ward. "It looked a lot like Aceh when we visited six months after the storm," he said, asking why the United States had not done more.
"Most of the area could be improved very quickly, but it is deserted," said Somsook Boonyabancha, a colleague who is director of the Thai relief group. "If I was the government, I couldn't sleep at night."
Nevertheless, it somehow manages.
I've had to continually revise my criteria regarding climate disasters and governmental responsibility. Initially, I stupidly assumed that climate change would only become a political issue when large numbers of people started dying . . . and then I realized that had already happened. So my new prediction is that climate change will only become relevant to the political mainstream when large numbers of white people start dying.
But I'm still probably way off-base. Another revision is likely in order -- and I probably don't have too long to wait.
2 comments:
Climate change will only become relevant when the financial interests of a small number of obscenely rich white people are threatened.
Mac -
Include "wealthy", or "connected", or as pisces said "obscenely rich", and I believe you will have your finger on the "pulse".
I have a very good friend in New Orleans who lost her house, and she says jobs are plentiful because so few people have returned, and those that have are in great need of goods and services.
I've thought more than twice about moving there...sort of a modern-day frontier. Like some kind of bad joke...
Kyle
UFOReflections.blogspot.com
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